Despite sanctions Iran acquired 5 Boeing 777-200 aircraft. Likely for Mahan Air

On July 15, 2025 five Boeing 777-200 aircraft flew from Siem Reap in Cambodja to various airports in Iran. Despite international sanction Iran once again was able to acquire Boeing aircraft. An overview of many aircraft which were smuggled into Iran can be found here.

Update December 9, 2025: The first Boeing 777-200 for Mahan Air made its first commercial flight in December (Tehran-Mashhad) after being illegally brough into Iran. Registration EP-MTC.

The five aircraft were formerly operated for a short time by NokScoot (Thailand). This airline was a joint venture of Scoot (lowcost branch of Singapore Airlines and Thai Nok Air) .

The aircraft made several flights in the months before they all flew to Iran. All five were owned by American company Ion Aviation. The aircraft are

5R-RIJ (ex N99001)
5R-RIS (ex N99002)
5R-ISA (ex N99003 )
5R-IJA (ex N99004)
5R-HER (ex N99005)

The last commercial flight of 5R-RIJ was around March 2020. The aircraft was then stored at Alice Springs, Singapore, Alice Springs and Langzhou (China). It was then flow to Jakarta in May 2025, very likely for maintenance. It flew Jakarta to Siem Reap at July 8 and then at July 15 it flew to Iran. It used callsign 5R5RRI.

All five aircraft used hex-ids assigned to Madagaskar.

5R-RIS was also stored for a long time. Last location was Langzhou. It flew July 4 to Siem Reap. At July 15 it flew to Iran. Flightradar does not show tracks of this aircraft in the archive so the hex id of this aircraft was changed and not in the FR24 database. However a replay shows this aircraft took off Siem Reap at 09:38 UTC. Its signal was lost over Afghanistan.

5R-ISA, 5R-IJA have the same history of 5R-RIS. Arrived at July 4 at Siem Reap. Left at July 15 towards Iran.

5R-HER also went to Jakarta first, then flew to Siem Reap. It left with the other four almost at the same time to Iran. This aircraft landed at Mashhad.